1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to hair dryers, and more particularly to a novel combination hair dryer and stand having advantages over similar device in the prior art.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Britton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,847 describes a telescoping stand with a pivotable holder for a had-held hair dryer is including a stand having a base and a manually and telescopically adjustable pole extending therefrom and terminated at a free end; and a coupling mechanism secured to the free end of the pole for removably holding a hand-held hair dryer and allowing it to be positioned at different angles for use.
Narrin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,305 describes a device for providing elevated and universally adjustable support of a hair dryer, the hair dryer having a body with a handle portion and a heating air discharge portion. A receptacle member is provided for gripping the hair dryer by its handle portion and is positioned in the elevated and overhead fashion by an elongated support which is either supported by a floor base or is attached to a vertically extending wall. The receptacle member can take the form of either a pair of laterally displaceable pincer jaws for gripping the dryer handle or a modification of a pedestal and universal ball joint support for providing universally adjustable support to the hair dryer.
Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,815 describes a mounting fixture for a hand-held electric hair dryer comprising a base with a support surface and a hollow collar extending perpendicularly therefrom; an elongate rod supported within the hollow collar; and clamping elements on the upper end of the rod. The clamping elements include two planar clamp pads mounted in two dish-like members. The clamping elements are spring biased to accommodate the hair dryer therebetween. The spring bias is achieved either by a yoke formed of spring steel or by two pivotally secured flat members having a compression spring located between adjacent ends of the flat members. The direction of the barrel of the dryer and accordingly the direction of the column of warm air exiting from the barrel can be easily adjusted horizontally and vertically over a wide angular range allowing a user of this type of hair dryer free use of both hands while drying hair.
Payne, U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,154 describes a portable, free standing apparatus is provided to support or cradle a hand-held electric hair dryer at various heights and angles, allowing the operator of these types of hair dryers free use of both hands while drying hair.
The prior art teaches the use of table and floor stands with hair drying equipment. However, the prior art does not teach that a table stand may be configured to have a generally more flexible and more broadly encompassing gripping portion integral with and positioned above a less flexible and less broadly encompassing gripping portion so as to encompass a wide range of portable hair dryers and so as to enable a quick mount and dismount of the dryer with the stand. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.